Pear tree and Beyond: Men of Kent !

Wednesday, 22 May 2019

Men of Kent !

Exploring new sites in Kent has led me to this lovely reserve at Darland Banks, not far from Gillingham and looked after by Kent Wildlife Trust. I was hoping to find another Orchid, a speciality of this site and maybe a new Butterfly or two. Chalkhill Blues reside here as does the Brown Banded Carder Bee, both would be nice to see.

There's a small car parking area close to the entrance which is always a plus. as you enter the reserve the above notice board describes the area and what may be seen. The first impression you get are the wonderful views across the valley and hills, lots of grassland to explore with huge 'big sky' vista.
The landscape seems very typical of most of the interesting Orchid sites I have been visiting of late.

View across Darland Banks

Its no secret that this site has one of the biggest Man Orchid populations in the country, a fact I was not aware of when visiting, I was preparing myself for one of those 'needle in a haystack' type searches.

There are many areas like this absolutely covered in Man Orchids, a closer inspection is required to appreciate the beauty of this native Orchid.

Man Orchid

Its quite easy to see why they are so named, not such a needle in the haystack this time.

As for the Butterflies no luck with the Chalkhill blue, maybe a little early still, several Common Blues were seen, Green Hairstreak, Orange Tips, Brimstone, Large Whites.